Technical Report Writing

Course Overview 

A good report is easy to recognize. Its title is precise and informative, its layout and format are well organized, and the binding is easy to handle and opens flat to reveal both text and diagrams. Reading a well written report is pleasurable: the style is accurate, fluent and concise, with headings to indicate the content of each section. The diagrams, which in this Guide will be taken to include non-verbal material such as tables and graphs, are well presented and clearly labelled. There are no absolute rules about the details of report production, because every report must be totally adapted to the needs of its reader. This Guide suggests laws of good report writing, but only because in the field of communication, laws should be generally applied but broken if necessary. For example, the second law concerns brevity. If clients have spent resources to gain access to expert knowledge, it may be inappropriate to reveal it in five pages. They will feel cheated if they receive so little, even if it represents value for money.  This step-by-step approach will exposes participants to the technicality of effective report writing.

• Understand the types and purposes of technical reports
• Write clear and concise formal reports, equipment manuals and other technical documentation
• Develop effective communication with technical as well as non-technical staff at all levels – matching your content to your readers’ knowledge.
• Collect, organize, analyze and evaluate information
• Appreciate the use of active verbs rather than passive verbs.
• Edit wordy phrases – using simple words rather than complex ones
• Keep technical terms to a minimum
• Transfer technical information into graphs, flowcharts and tables.
• Translate technical documents into compelling oral presentations